In the last few years it has become quite popular for young people to attack big business, government agencies and universities as being too impersonal to serve the needs of man. These people claim that the indi vidual is more important than the organization and that corporate goals need to give far more consideration to the needs of individuals and society. Charles Reich, a law professor at Yale, explored this phenomena in his best seller, The Greening of America. He divided life in America into three periods of time. Each period has its own dominate philosophy of life. The first period called the "American Dream," holds that success will come to anyone with character, determination and hard work. Reich states that such beliefs are unrealistic in a society such as ours that is dominated by large organizations. The little man has lost the ability to control his destiny in the land of government bureaus and big business. After World War II, Reich says, we entered fully into the second of these three time periods: the age of the Corporate State. Better organi zation, bigger businesses, more governmental agencies—these would solve man's problems. Since greater organization was to solve our ills, Americans were counseled to subordinate themselves to the organiza tion. Institutions, not individuals, held number one priority and, so suggests Reich, the watch-word for the age was captured in John Kennedy's phrase, "Ask what you can do for your country (and corpora tion)." The corporate state, however, dominates, exploits, and ultimately destroys both man and nature. It is a gray America. A cold, calculating and mechanical America leaving no room for the individual and his personal dreams. The "Greening" of America is Reich's way of speaking of the rebirth of self-interest and assertion. The "Gray" America that dehumanized man is being rejected by many young people today. The new generation is establishing its own goals, values and culture with scant attention to the standards of the corporate state. The new generation craves experiences and trusts only personal sense perceptions. These shape his new life; not the conclusions drawn from analytic thought or structured reason. For Reich and the "new generation," the first commandment is: "thou shalt not do violence to thyself." Reich has, indeed, caught the essence of much of our anti-organiza tional thought today. But I agree with many of his critics who say that he is remiss in viewing all of this as both valid and desirable. What of the Christian young person? He is influenced by the "green ing" philosophy of his contemporaries, and with the added emphasis
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